Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The following is the excerpt from Thay's dharma talk of Singapore Retreat in 2010. Watch the following video from 1:26:00 to 1:32:11.

Quote:Suppose we become aware of the element of water in our body. There is water in our body but there is also water outside of our body. And the water in the body and outside of the body always replace, interact with each other. And when you get in touch with the water in the body, you get in touch also with the water outside of the body. When you get in touch with the heat in the body, you get in touch with the heat outside of the body. When you get in touch with the element of soil in the body, you get in touch with the element of soil outside of the body. And when you get in touch with the element of air in your body, you get in touch also with the element of air outside of the body. And with that kind of awareness and feeling in touch, you stop being block of ice and you become water. And you begin to touch the nature of no-self. And when you know how to touch the nature of no-self, the worries, fears and anger will disappear. If we study the four exercises (from 1st to 4th) on mindful breathing proposed by the Buddha in the light of modern neuroscience, we can see all of that. And all of the four exercises help us to leave the zone of thinking, analyzing and discriminating in order to come to the zone of interbeing. The four elements of your body show you that you can not be by yourself alone and you have to interbe with the cosmos. And you can continue with the element of space. The space inside of you is connected to the space outside of you. And you can also get in touch with the element of consciousness in us. Don't think there is consciousness only inside of the body. Consciousness is there also outside of the body. And if you get in touch with your consciousness inside of the body, you have a chance to get in touch with your consciousness outside of your body. So, although the first four exercises concern the body alone, practicing these four, you can only get a lot of peace, stability, harmony and joy. If you are a biologist, if you are a neuroscientist, you may enjoy making research on this subject.:Unquote